News Updates

Scott and White Health Plan Acquires FirstCare Health Plans

Thursday, January 3, 2019

As of January 1, 2019, Scott and White Health Plan, part of Baylor Scott & White Health, has acquired FirstCare Health Plans. The combined plans will cover almost 400,000 members across North, West, and Central Texas.

Our organizations are now beginning the important work of transitioning into one, first-rate organization to provide our members, providers, agents and employees with a best-in-class experience. We are excited to learn from each other and grow together over the coming weeks and months — all to better serve you.

“For more than 35 years, Scott and White Health Plan has served Central Texas and surrounding communities. Uniting our health plans will allow us to ensure the long-term viability for both, continuing our histories of Texans serving Texans.” — Jeff Ingrum, President and CEO, Scott and White Health Plan.

We do not expect any immediate disruption to day-to-day business or immediate changes for members, providers, agents or employer groups of either health plan.

We’re pleased to announce that Scott and White Health Plan, a part of Baylor Scott & White Health, has signed a definitive agreement with Covenant Health and Hendrick Health System to acquire FirstCare Health Plans.

This acquisition will allow the two provider-owned health insurers to come together to create a more comprehensive, sustainable and competitive insurer covering nearly 400,000 Texans.

“For more than 35 years, Scott and White Health Plan has served Central Texas and surrounding communities,” said Jeff Ingrum, CEO of Scott and White Health Plan. “Uniting our health plans will allow us to ensure the long-term viability for both, continuing our histories of Texans serving Texans.”

Changes to the national health insurance landscape are prompting regional health insurers around the country to look for opportunities to achieve greater efficiency, increase access to high-quality providers and hospitals, and ensure affordable coverage for members and long-term viability for the health plans.

“We are confident this is in the best interest of our members, providers, agents and employees,” said Darnell Dent, President and CEO of FirstCare Health Plans. “I am proud of FirstCare’s legacy of excellence, compassion and high-quality service to our communities in North, West and Central Texas. We are looking forward to advancing that legacy.”

The definitive agreement signed by Scott and White Health Plan, Covenant Health and Hendrick Health System is now subject to regulatory approval. Pending necessary approval, the acquisition is expected to be finalized in early 2019.

We do not expect any immediate disruption to day-to-day business or immediate changes to the plans and benefits FirstCare offers.

We are pleased to announce that this past Saturday—August 25, 2018—we successfully launched our new Agent and Employer portals on the myFirstCare Self-Service platform. This launch marked the final phase of our complete overhaul and upgrade of our customer self-service portals, with the member portal and provider portal having launched in October 2017 and March 2018, respectively.

myFirstCare Self-Service provides our customers with a mobile-friendly portal experience, while delivering 24/7 access, more robust functionality, faster page loads, and intuitive navigation—all within a secure environment that includes the resources they have come to count on from FirstCare.

And, in addition to these portal launches, all of our customers—members, providers, agents and/or employers—can now download our myFirstCare portal app on their smartphones. The app is currently available for all Android users (Google Play) and Apple iOS users (The App Store).